The Serris of America
by thunderslightning
Summary: Take Harry in his sixth year, he's kinda paranoid and well we all know his issues, then add a powerfull street dancing American named Sam, who has, like Harry, a dark past, and predicted future. And you get... well read the story
1. The Breeze

The Breeze

Harry was sitting on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had finished his potions homework. Finally. Between the actual assignment and hiding the work from the Dursleys he had hardly had time to do it. A light breeze passed through the room. Harry looked over at the window, it was closed. _Strange_, thought Harry, this had happened several times over the summer. Harry thought he heard music coming from outside. He stared at the window, as if that would help. Eventually, he got off his bed and walked to the window. He opened the window and looked to the left, nothing unusual. Then he looked to the right. Down the street he could vaguely make out a group of people crowding around… something. Harry had pretty much been cooped up all summer, the Dursleys were, afraid, to some extent of him. They had locked him in his room. Harry walked down to the end of his bed and started rummaging through his trunk for the key pick set that Fred and George had given him. After finding a few pairs of socks from Dobby, he came across the item. The Dursleys were gone for the afternoon, something about a job offer. He set to work picking the lock and after about five minutes there was a loud click, and Harry reached out for the knob and walked out into the hallway. He jumped down the steps and was out the door. Just, in a magnificent stroke of luck, the Dursleys were pulling in, fantastic. Mr. Dursley jumped out of the car, which rose slightly being relieved of part of the tremendous weight that it had burdened.

"WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING POTTER?"All instincts told Harry to run like hell. So he did. He darted off down the street, towards the crowd that he had seen a minute before. The music grew louder and Harry turned to look down the street. He couldn't see Mr. Dursley anywhere. He was safe for a while. He continued to walk towards the crowd. He circled the crowed and forced his way into the circle. He could see four people dancing to the beat of the music. They were synchronized, graceful, and really good. One of them in particular caught his eye. She was a little shorter than him and her light brown her fell to her shoulders. She wasn't unusually pretty, but she had a natural beauty about her. She scanned the reasonably large crowd made mostly of kids and teens, and meet Harry's eyes. She smiled at him, then took two steps in front of the rest of the group still doing the dance. Then she sang to the music. Her voice was beautiful and enchanting.

Harry watched the rest of the dance but it eventually ended. When it did people clapped hard and most dropped money into the basket. The girl turned to her group and talked quietly to them. Harry walked to the curb and sat down. He then started contemplating what he was going to do now. He should probably stay away from the Dursley's for a while. He was thinking when the girl came over and sat down next to him.

"Hey," she said calmly. She had an American accent, which startled Harry.

"Hi," replied Harry.

The girl offered her hand and said, "I'm Sam."

"Harry," said Harry taking the hand and shaking it. "Are you from America?"

"Yeah," she stated with a smile, "just came here. Looks pretty good so far."

At this point they were both distracted by a purple blob running down the street. It was Mr. Dursley. Harry cursed under his breath. Sam looked at him.

"What? He's not on your Christmas list?"

Harry smiled despite the situation. He decided against running. He didn't really know why. The blob reached them.

"POTTER YOU… YOU." He seemed to notice Sam for the first time. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Sam looked at him calmly. "Sam," was the reply.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS BOY?"

She looked at Harry then back at Mr. Dursley. "Has he committed a crime or something?" She got no reply. "Well then I don't see why I shouldn't."

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

"What're yougonna do about it muggle?"

Both of the boys present stared at her. She winked at Harry then turned and started walking down the street. Mr. Dursley looked at Harry.

"YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE BOY!" he grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him down the street. Harry looked behind him for Sam but she had disappeared. A cool breeze didn't seem to do much for Mr. Dursley's hot temper.


	2. The Letter

The Letter

Harry was staring out the window. He couldn't get Sam out of his head. Who was she? She was obviously a witch, otherwise how would she know to call Uncle Vernon a muggle? How did she even know he was a muggle? Well, he didn't really seem like a wizard. It was definitely strange. The reason that Harry was staring out the window was to see if the dance group came back, but very few people had been near Privet Drive that didn't live on it. Around that time, Harry saw an owl flying towards him, for a second he thought it was Ron's, but when he noticed the owl was flying in a straight line he knew it wasn't. He moved to the side as the owl flew in through the window. He took the letter and saw it was his Hogwarts letter. He was surprised, he usually didn't get the letter for a while. The owl helped itself to some of Hedwigs food. Harry scanned the list of things he needed for the school year as well as some other things included. He laid the things down on his desk then picked up the envelope to throw it away, as he was moving across the room something he didn't notice before fell out. He looked in the envelope to see if there was anything else in it, but there wasn't anything. Slowly Harry reached down to pick up what hap fallen out. He opened the folded paper and it read as such:

Dear Harry,

Hello Harry, hope your Aunt and Uncle are treating you all right. We would like you to join us in the manor next week. We sent you you're Hogwarts letter early this year so that we could send you this letter. The Order of the Phoenix is going to meet, and as I said before we would like you to come. Mr. Weasley and Ron will be coming to pick you up at 7 pm on Monday of next week, we have arranged for an owl to send a message to your guardians, but you'd better tell them as well, if memory serves they won't be very open to owls… See you on Monday!

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE 

Harry smiled more wide than he had in a long time. He would be leaving the Dursley's early, something he loved doing. Monday was way, way to far away. Hogwarts! The school seemed so welcoming. Thinking about the school Harry realized something. He ran back to the letter and looked hard. Finally he found what he was looking for.

The new defense against the dark arts teacher will be Professor Mark Fictin.

Mark Fictin, huh? Well Harry hoped he would be better than the last DDA teacher was. All Harry knew at the moment was that Monday was too far away.


	3. Freedom

Freedom

Sunday night: 11: 45. The clock was slowing down. Harry was sure of it, just to spite him it was slowing down. He was planning to stay awake till midnight, considering the awkward timing of most of the members of the order it was very very likely that somebody would show up at midnight. Harry sat on the bed and waited for midnight to come. Around midnight Harry heard a popping noise. He swung around and found George looking very uncomfortable on Harry's dresser.

"Um…. Hi there Harry!"

"What are you doing on my dresser?"

"Well I would like to know that as well. I apparated in here and instead of on the floor, here I am on the dresser." He rolled off and landed hard on the floor with an assuring thump. He got up and brushed himself off. "Well," he said, " how are you Harry?"

"Well thanks."

George nodded and walked to the center of the room he placed a key on the ground and pulled a note out of his pocket. He read a few words off of the note and the key glowed for several seconds then dimmed back. Satisfied with himself George turned to Harry.

"Right then, this will take you to the order."

"Portkey?"

"Yup. Once you go I'll take the spell off and apparate back."

With nothing more to say Harry walked over and reached out for the key. As soon as he touched it he was transported to the order. He found himself in a musty room. There was a blood red carpet and a dim light was coming in through heavy velvet window shades. There was a desk with a chair made out of dark wood. Behind him a voice rang out.

"I know the carpet is very comfortable Harry, but feel free to get up at any time."

Harry jumped up and turned around. "Dumbledore! You scared me."

"Did I? Sorry, but I would have expected you to know we would have somebody in the room."

"Do I need a body guard or something?"

A smile danced across Dumbledore's lips. "Perhaps," he stated, his eyes sparkling.

Unsure how to respond to this Harry changed the subject. "Is this uh… the Black Manor?"

The smile on his lips faded as Dumbledore responded, "Yes Harry, it is."

All he could manage is a nod. Harry had spent the whole summer dealing with Sirius's death. A death isn't an easy thing to get over, and one summer hadn't done the trick. Harry would never be over his death but being in the manor re-opened all the wounds that were beginning to heal. Dumbledore quickly brought up something else.

"Hermione and Ron are waiting for you, and Mrs. Weasley seems to think that George is incapable of making the portkey so check in with her and make sure she knows you're not in Mexico. Goodbye Harry."

With that Dumbledore apparated out. Harry turned and walked out the door. He found that he had been on a top floor which had only the room the he had come out of. The stairs looked dusty and unused. Harry had a creeping fear that he would fall through the stairs. Cautiously he took a first step and there was an immensely loud creek; he jumped back off the step but the step held. He stepped back and stayed through the creek this time. Eventually he got all the way down the steps and found himself in a hallway. He was unsure where he was supposed to go when there was a reassuring pop next to him. It was George. He looked positively triumphant.

"HA! And she thought I couldn't do it! Hello again Harry. Come on I'll show you were to go."

With that he led Harry down the hall way to the staircase on the other side. They went down the stairs and through the second door on the left. They were in a bedroom that George explained would be Harry's until it was time to leave for Hogwarts. Harry's trunk which had been floating alongside them landed with a thump on the floor. At the same time the door swung back and revealed a grinning Ron and Hermione.

"Hi Harry!" Exclaimed Hermione lunging herself forward and giving him a hug.

"Hey Hermione." Harry said returning the hug.

"Hey mate!" Ron said.

"Hey Ron," said Harry.

"How was your summer?" Hermione inquired.

"Boring, stuffy, boring, boring, except for…" Harry though about it, had his experience with Sam really been all that interesting? It was strange, but although he only knew her for a short while he felt so glad that he had meet her, she was a relief from the immense boredom that was his summer.

"Except for…" prodded Ron

"Oh I um meet this really interesting girl, Sam."

A huge grin took over Ron. "A girl? Was she cute?"

"Ron! Really!"

"What I just wanna know," he wined.

"No really it's fine," put in Harry. He turned to Ron, "yeah I guess she was pretty, she's a dancer and she had an amazing voice."

"What kind of dancer?" asked Hermione.

"Street, but she's good enough to be professional."

Hermione smiled and Ron suppressed a laugh.

"So what happened with you guys?"

"Not much, I visited Fred and George's shop, its coming along well."

"I forgot," he turned to George. "How's that going?"

"Very good! Which reminds me I'd better be getting back." With a poof he was gone.

"Show off," muttered Ron.

"HARRY DEAR!" came an extremely loud voice that caused the dear in question to jump. Mrs. Weasley then gave Harry the biggest hug imaginable. That left Harry murmuring something along the lines of.

"AIR AIR NEED AIR. CAN'T BREATH!"

A week passed by quickly when the students of the manor had to go and get their supplies at Diagon Ally. They traveled by floo-powder, and Harry was a little nervous since the last time he did this, he mispronounced the words. He took the powder and managed to say the words right. After a while of walking from store to store getting the necessary supplies the three friends broke away from the others and started to go around on their own. They entered the quidditch shop and looked around but didn't find much. Ron purchased a small book to help a keeper. After walking around some more they decided to go to a smallish café that had outside seats. Hermione sat outside while the boys went inside to see if there was any good food. Hermione only wanted a drink. Harry and Ron ended up only buying drinks and some chocolate frogs. As they walked back out to rejoin Hermione Harry saw Sam walking. It looked like she was leaving from their table. But by the time he thought to call out she was out of earshot. When he reached the table he questioned Hermione.

"Do you know who that was?"

"No, she just bumped into the table."

"That was Sam, the dancer I told you about."

"Really? She was very nice. She got pushed in the crowd and bumped into the table. She was really nice about it."

Ron seemed somewhat peeved that he didn't meet her. They soon had to leave to meet up with Mrs. Weasley. They made a last minute check of their list before they prepared to go home. They went to the fireplace and prepared to go home. Mr. Weasley went first, followed by Ron. Harry went next. He said the words and threw down the powder but then as he was traveling he paused somewhere as if the magic was unsure where to take him. Although he could not see anything he heard these words:

"The serris is formidable, that is most certain… he will be almost untouchable is the serris is around." A deep voice stated.

Before he had a chance to hear more he found himself standing in the manor's fireplace.

"Harry, you're ok!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, "We got nervous when Hermione got here before you… are you ok Harry, you look white as a ghost!"

"I'm… fine…" but he wasn't really sure that he was.


	4. Conversation

Conversation

The time before school started to pass quickly. Although not much was happening it was good to be with friends and people more like family than what Harry actually had. Occasionally other people like Remus or Mad Eye would show up but they never stayed for long. Something strange was the Doumbledore was almost never around. He sometimes came but never for long. Harry spent the time with Ron and Hermione, talking and exploring the huge manor.

"Harry, try some of this."

They were sitting in the kitchen and sampling random things. It was late, but they had all found some sugar and were on a sugar rush. Eventually Mrs. Weasley came in and scolded them all for staying up so late and ushered them off to bed. While Ron and Hermione's sugar rush wore off they grew increasingly tired. By the time they arrived in their rooms they were out cold on their beds. Harry however, while no longer on a sugar rush, was not at all tired. For some reason the sentence he had heard had bothered him increasingly till he would spend all hours trying to decipher what it meant. Of course he learned nothing. He resolved to tell Ron and Hermione in the morning. As for right now, lying in bed was agitating the restless Harry. He got up to go back down to the kitchen to see if he could make a hot drink. Working his way down the winding staircase and the maze of halls, Harry finally reached the kitchen. When he was about to enter he heard Dumbledore's voice conferring with Remus, Mad Eye, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"He would be perfectly safe!" argued Mrs. Weasley.

"Don't trust in that." Countered Mad Eye.

Remus laughed, "You have no trust in yourself do you? I agree, who could be better for the job then her?"

"Remus is absolutely correct, nobody could be better. That's why I've already talked to her." Doumbledore assured those present.

"You have? How did you do that? What did she say?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"First yes, I have. Secondly, I knew her from a time when she was in great need. And thirdly she has agreed to help, but she refuses any money."

"She does? IT'S A TRAP!" Moody declared.

Everyone looked at him. Then went back to their conversation, ignoring the remark of the eccentric auror.

"Well then its settled." Said Remus. "It's the best thing to do, he'll be safe, she'll be at the school, and that means that the safety of the school will increase drastically."

Then Dumbledore called out "Harry."

Harry jumped. Dubledore had an almost annoying ability to know where everybody was. Harry stepped forward from his place behind the door.

"Harry! What are you doing!" cried Mrs. Weasley.

"It's quite alright Molly," said Dumbledore, "Hello Harry. You are undoubtably wondering what we're talking about. Yes, well I'm terribly sorry but we can't tell you right now. But taking into you're account of figuring things out then you will know very soon."

Harry started to say something but Mrs. Weasley jumped up and took him back to his room. Then left him to wonder about what he had just heard. Her? Who was her? Security? Safety? He would wait till morning then talk to Hermione and Ron, and see if they understood what was going on.


	5. What is a Serris?

What is a Serris?

The next morning before any of them went down to the kitchen for breakfast (none of them were hungry after their food hunt last night) Harry told them about all that he had heard. From the trip from Diagon (N/A:sp?) Ally to the conversation he had heard the night before. Throughout it all Hermione looked a bit worried and Ron was interested. When he was done Ron asked the first question.

"The word serris sounds familiar but I can't figure out what it is." He turned to Hermione, "What is a serris?"

"A serris," she started, "is a person of large power. There is only one serris born every fifteen years. They have the power of twenty average wizards and they don't use wands, just their hands and minds. Also, I've read that every serris had complete control over two of the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. There is a design on the back of their hand that tells you what elements they posses and it tells people that they are a serris, that is their main purpose."

"So, whoever I heard talking said 'the serris is most formidable, he will be almost impossible to touch as long as the serris is around' or something along those lines. Wait, Hermione can a serris be a girl?"

"Of course."

"And I heard the people last night talking about 'her' and how 'he'll' be perfectly safe with 'her' around."

"Do you think that the serris is going to Hogwarts Harry?" inquired Ron.

"That's exactly what I think."

"It would make sense," said Hermione. "Though I don't know why a serris would be willing to spend a school year at Hogwarts."

"Well it's the best wizard school around isn't it? Maybe she wants to learn something there."

"Well, the serris should be done with her schooling. They finish school when they're fourteen. They learn at an accelerated rate, and they receive special tutors to teach them their specific powers. They come into their powers at age ten, before that they can't even use magic."

"They only go to school for four years!" asked Ron.

"Right."

Ron sulked at this. He was positively annoyed that he had to go to school for so much longer. The trio went to the library to learn all they could about the serris's. They didn't learn much more then they already knew. They spent the rest of their time trying to find researching and things as such. Then the day before school was to start, they spent their time packing and running for last minute supplies. Finally they were all packed and said their goodbyes to all of the residents of the manor except for Dumbledore of course who had been at the school for quite a while. The next morning they set of for the train. Holding on tightly to their tickets the trio now accompanied by Ginny found their way to the Hogwarts platform. They said their goodbyes and got on the train. Although they were earlier than usual there were already a good load of people on the train.

"Full, full, full, one seat, two, one, full, slytherin, "said Ron, as they made their way through the train. Eventually they reached one that wasn't full. Harry opened the door. There was one girl seated next to the window she leaned against the wall in a way that her hair hid her face. She was reading something and either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Um, do you mind, everywhere else if full."

The girl lifted her head and turned towards them. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and said with a smile, "No, no problem."

Harry took a second then recognized the girl as Sam.

"Sam?"

"That's what they call me Harry." She smiled amused with his reaction. "I told you I'd see you at school."

Ron happy to finally know who Sam was introduced himself. "I'm Ron, nice to finally meet you."

Sam reached out her hand to shake his, Harry took note that Sam wore black, tight, leather gloves that went halfway to her elbow. He had noticed before but it hadn't registered.

"Remember me?" asked Hermione.

"Of course, I still feel bad about bumping into your table like that."

Hermione laughed lightly, "What are you reading?"

"Well I figured since that I'm new to the school I should do a little research on the teachers and such."

They agreed that this was reasonable. Then Ginny who had lagged behind to talked to a friend came in. "Hey," she saw Sam, "Hi, I'm Ginny."

"Sam" she said, "How's it going?"

"You're American."

"You noticed."

Suddenly Harry remembered a question that he had wanted to ask Sam. "Sam, how did you know my uncle was a muggle, or that I was a wizard."

"Well, I'm not sure," she said, nervously, "It's kinda like a sixth sense for me…" Seeing that her explanation had been accepted she relaxed. Hermione however started to think hard. They all talked for a while, Sam had a bunch of questions about Hogwarts, while Ginny had a lot of questions as to what America was like. Suddenly out of the blue Hermione asked Sam.

"Why do you wear those gloves?"

"When I was small I got badly burned on my right hand, and up my arm. I wear a glove to cover it, but only wearing one glove is awkward, so I wear these." This was a very practiced answer. Everyone in the cart figured that it was simply asked a lot. Hermione, however, was not convinced. Then the train jolted and Hermione's wand fell to the floor. Sam picked it up and held it out to Hermione. When she took it, she also grabbed Sam's glove, which slid off. Instinctively Sam threw her arm behind her back. Hermione grabbed her arm and dragged it out from behind Sam's back, she took a quick look at her hand before Sam knew what was happening.

"I KNEW IT!" she screamed, "You're a serris!"

Sam let out a loud laugh. "They told me you were smart, well I guess they were right."

Ha, two chapters in two days. This one's kinda long, and now you know what Sam's secret is, although I'm sure you figured it out before.


	6. Why Hide It?

DarkAngelPearl: Man! Hermione is so damn nosiy!

I know, she is. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

"_You're_ the serris?" asked Harry.

"I am." She looked at his shocked face, "Why, is that so hard to believe?"

"Why'd you try to hid it?" Asked Ginny.

"The same reason that Harry there tries to hide his scar. You're not too bad at it Harry, but personally, I like my story."

Hermione had taken great pride in discovering that Sam was s serris. Sam noted this, and gave her credit for the discovery as well.

"I still don't understand…" commented Ginny.

"Well, apart from the annoying people who want things done for them, and such I…well… I'm not sure how to put this. Basically, people object to one person possessing so much power, so they try to… kill them. Usually this ends up bad for the murderer. When encountered in a dark ally, and attacked, a serris is a very dangerous thing. We have strong instincts."

All listening found themselves contemplating a serris's wrath. They didn't like what they imagined. They all shuddered a bit. There was an awkward silence that Sam took no notice of. She had gone back to reading about Hogwarts. It was Hermione who broke the silence.

"You know Sam, we could probably tell you what you want to know about Hogwarts." Sam looked up and pushed her hair away with her hand. She was completely at ease. If she was at all nervous to be going to a new school she did not show it.

"Sure," she said, "can you tell me who uh… Mark Fictin is?"

"No actually, he's a new teacher this year." Said Harry. Sam nodded and then her eyes flashed. Everyone in the car jumped. Sam didn't seem to notice, she looked right past them it seemed. She cocked her head for a second as if listening to something.

"Yeah, yeah ok I'll be there. Ok. Bye." She blinked once then looked at her companions who were staring at her. "Oh, uh, yeah I've gotta go… I'll see you guys at Hogwarts." Then in a burst of flame she was gone and the people in the car simply stared at the spot where she had been sitting. Harry looked around and quietly asked if anyone knew what had happened. Of course it was Hermione who had the answer. She informed them that one of the elements that Sam controlled was fire, and she could therefore use it to transport herself to wherever she wanted to go, absolutely anywhere. Even Hogwarts. Her other element was apparently air, something Hermione had managed to see on Sam's hand.

Eventually they arrived at Hogwarts and as soon as they arrived to the castle Mcgonagal (A/N: how the hell do you spell her name?) came up to Harry and told him to report to her office. She then turned to Ron and Hermione and told them they could come.

Sorry that took forever to put up, but oh well. That was a really really uneventful chapter… the next one should be better.


	7. Encounters

Encounters

The voices drifted out of the office and could be heard by the trio as they entered the office. They clearly belonged to Sam and Dumbledore. Sam spoke first.

"Look, I realize that I need money. But I don't want your charity."

"Sam, you can't very well go back and forth between countries in your spare time."

"I don't plan to do it on a regular basis, only occasionally and decides…" she trailed off and turned. She had noticed the trio even though they made no noise and weren't even close. Not even Dumbledore had noticed them yet. She turned and then looked at Dumbledore, he nodded so Sam told them to come in.

"How was the rest of your train ride?"

"Uneventful, except you left all of us quite baffled with the flame thing." Replied Harry.

Sam looked thoughtful as if trying to figure out what it was Harry was talking about. Then when she realized she laughed and apologized saying she shouldn't have done it. Dumbledore had a happy smile on his face.

"Well, I see you've all met Sam, and vice versa." He said. Then looking at Hermione he added "And since Hermione has figured out who Sam is there is no point in not telling you the point of having her here."

Everybody stopped, processing the sentence, it took a while, confusing sentence as it was, two points, one sentence. Dumbledore, once everybody had figured out what he was talking about, continued. "You see, since Professor Snape had some trouble helping you keep people out of your mind last year… Sam is going to try this year. She is also an extra level of security. Few smart people would try to do anything to a school if a Serris was protecting it."

"And those less wise…" inquired Hermione.

Dumbledore looked at her over his half moon glasses. "They never get very far." He said seriously. He looked over at Sam who had stopped listening awhile ago and was now sitting in a chair playing with a flame. She had produced a small fire ball in her hand and was throwing it from hand to hand like a toy.

Dumbledore looked amused, "Sam."

She jumped and dropped the flame ball, as it fell to the ground she held out her hand and it stopped in mid drop. She beckoned it with a wave of her hand. It went and rested in her hand, then she continued to play with it. "Yes," she said innocently.

"If you don't mind I would rather not have my office set on fire." He joked. Sam smiled and the flame ball disappeared.

"So, what'd I miss?"

Dumbledore sighed and the look on his face suggested that the school was doomed. Sam raised her eyebrow. Then asked where she was supposed to stay. The response was that she would be staying in the Gryffindor dorms. She nodded. With that the trio led Sam down to the sorting ceremony.

They reached the end of the Sorting Hat's song and as Sam heard the last bit of it, she listened, not impressed by the Hat's musical abilities. They sat down at the Gryffindor table. Sam was introduced to the surrounding Gryffindor's who seemed to like her. What they found very interesting about her was her accent.

"Say 'I live in New York.'" Someone demanded.

"I live in New York." Repeated Sam, not seeing the big deal. "Honestly you people are the ones with accents."

"No, Americans originally came from England."

"Not all of them…" Sam paused then looked as if she was realizing something. "Oh…you're just jealous because we won the war." She stated.

This caused several people to laugh. Sam winked at her opponent who leaned back and lifted his hands in defeat.

"So what's America like?" someone asked.

"Well, it's not a huge deal, people living with other people. Not so unlike England."

Suddenly a thought hit Harry. "Hey Sam."

"Yeah?"

"I saw your dance group here, where are they now."

"In America, but I can get them, or go to them. It's not hard to keep in contact or anything."

Then the conversation at the table changed to Quiddich (N/A: sp?), Sam knew a lot about the sport, and was friends with a lot of the players on the American National team. Eventually the feast came to an end and the large group dispersed. Everyone was reasonably tired except for Sam who was still on American time. She sat in front of the fire and watched the flames, occasionally she would make shapes with the fire, but for the most part she simply sat. Harry sat on the couch and watched her; the light of the fire seemed to make her almost radiate power. The group dispersed and everyone went off to bed, except for Sam, who was sitting on a couch.

The next morning Harry came down to find Hermione standing over Sam who had fallen asleep by the fire.

"Sam get up."

"Why?"

"You'll miss breakfast."

"So?"

"Do you want me to kick you?"

At this Sam shifted slightly and looked at Hermione "Would that make you happy?"

"Not in particular."

"Well, it wouldn't make me happy, and if it makes neither of us happy, what's the point?"

With that she flopped back down and Hermione sighed, Harry chuckled to himself thinking the whole situation very funny. At that point Crookshanks who had been watching leaped on Sam's head. Sam jumped up.

"WHATWASTHATFOR!" The words were slurred into one long word.

Crookshanks looked at her and Sam sighed and said,

"Yes, _mother_. My god Hermione that is one naggy animal."

Sam ignored the looks and walked over to a mirror, she tapped her clothes and they became neat and clean, she ran her hand through her hair and it became straight and sleek. "Y'all ready to go?"

Hermione and Harry nodded wordlessly and Ron came into the room. They all went down to breakfast together. This, was where Sam met Draco Malfoy for the first time. From behind they heard a noise. Sam, who knew what it was, didn't turn around. The other people among them however, did turn around. Harry cursed under his breath Ron groaned.

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"Draco Malfoy."

Sam suppressed a snicker at the name. She turned around and heard someone say,

"Accio gloves."

Nothing happened, she put her hand on her hip, "_Can I help you_?" she asked the blonde sixth year.

"You're a serris aren't you?"

"What is everyone's strange fascination with stealing my gloves? But yes," she bowed dramatically, "I am."

Draco sneered, and Sam's look dared him to do something about it.

"Piss off Malfoy." Said Ron

"Aww, she's got body guards."

"Ah, you're one to talk walking around with those big… are they people? I can barley tell. But I wouldn't go around insulting people if I was too scared to not have people ready to protect me."

"WHY YOU LITTLE…"

He toke a step forward, and found himself two steps back from where he started. He was very confused, he took and experimental step and was two steps back. He looked at Sam who was smiling a smile filled with mischief. She winked and turned to walk away.

"WAIT! How do I get out of here?"

"It's very complicated for someone like you, but let's see if you can do it." A small group had formed and they were watching with interest.

"What?"

"You have to apologize."

"FOR WHAT?"

"Being an impossibly annoying person… so come on, let's hear it…"

Draco's eyes were a mixture of hate and fear. He mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" All the Gryffindors were doubling over with laughter.

Malfoy glared at them then took a deep breath and said quietly "Sorry."

"You have to say it louder than that. The bonds have to hear you…"

Malfoy looked up at her to see if she was lying, and although she was smiling madly her eyes were serious.

Louder Malfoy said, "I'm sorry." Sam nodded. Then she told him to step forward, he did so cautiously. He found himself exactly where he was supposed to be. Then in a loud huff stormed off to eat. Hermione was laughing loudly along with every other Gryffindor. Ron, Lee, and some others were close to tears. By the first class everyone in the school had heard about Sam and Malfoy's encounter. Sudden school history. Sam was approached several times that day by people begging her to teach them the trick, she politely told them that she couldn't but was glad they thought it was a cool trick.

Eventually it was time for potions. Harry, Hermione, and Ron mentally prepared themselves for facing Professor Snape. Sam, who had nothing better to do decided to go explore the castle. They made their way slowly down to the dungeons. Eventually they made it and they stepped into the classroom. Draco was standing at a cauldron and glared as they entered. The each went to a separate cauldron just as there was a bang as the door flew open and Snape stepped into the room.

In a low voice he said, "Take out your books and turn to page 125."

The period was spent with them memorizing ingredients and the way to mix them together properly to make a potion to increase the speed of growing for any living thing except humans. As the class was copying notes there was a loud crash. Neville had knocked over a cauldron.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape said, "Now pick it up Longbottom."

"Ten points? For what?" Said a voice.

Snape turned around and looked into the face of Sam. It was unclear how she had gotten there.

"For causing a disruption to the class, Serris."

"He knocked over a caldron. By mistake."

Nobody had every really faced Snape like this without being eventually cast aside with threats of detention or house points. He held no such power over Sam.

"This doesn't concern you Serris."

"I think it might."

"We'll discuss this later, right now you're disrupting my class."

Then Sam nodded and disappeared, as a slight breeze swept the classroom, this was welcomed by students who had spent the class inhaling stale dungeon air.

HA! SNAPE DEFIANCE! See that was longer. And a bit better. Should I put some HermionexRon in the story? Let me know.


	8. Scarves, SPEW, and Old Acquaintances

Scarves, S.P.E.W., and Old Acquaintances

Hermione had a free period as well as Harry. They were sitting in the common room and Harry was getting a head start on his potions homework. Hermione was knitting. She had restarted her S.P.E.W. goal. She had just finished a scarf when Sam walked in. Sam smiled and said her hellos. Harry and her started talking about Snape. Hermione put down the scarf on the table. Sam turned to Hermione and saw the scarf. Instinctively she threw a fireball at it. Hermione watched the scarf disappear in a burst of flame.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"

Sam looked at her. "I thought it looked dangerous."

"THAT WAS A SCARF I JUST MADE!"

"Oh," said Sam, understanding. Then, "That was a scarf?"

"YES!"

Sam sighed. Then she waved her hand and the scarf it fixed itself and looked the exact way it used to.

"My scarf!"

"It's repulsive."

"That's really rude."

Sam was undaunted by Hermione's anger. She looked at her calmly. The look in her eye's made Hermione's anger reduce just a bit.

"Would you like me to teach you how to knit?"

Hermione had never been really taught. Sam had obviously realized this. Hermione forgot her anger.

"You know how to knit?" Sam nodded. Hermione looked at her. "Can I see you knit something?"

Sam took the needle and the material from Hermione. She knit at a rapid pace, as if she did this for a living. She quickly produced a bit of what would become a scarf. Hermione stared. The rest of the period was spent with Sam instructing Hermione. After Hermione had set off trying to knit again (she had gotten much better) Sam fell back onto the sofa.

"Who're you making that for anyway?"

Hermione then explained the workings of S.P.E.W. as Sam watched her closely. When she finished Sam turned to Harry.

"Isn't she supposed to be smart?"

Harry laughed Hermione got angry again.

"IT'S UNFAIR TO KEEP THEM IN SLAVERY."

"Look love," she began, "look at it this way." A babysitter lives with a family. They don't pay her but they give her shelter, food, and whatever else. Now, it's true that it isn't really fair, but if the house elves were to try to break away they would have nowhere to go. They are used to life, not being paid but being provided with food and shelter. Even if they were to get your hats and scarves they would not be free. You are not they're master you cannot set them free."

And just like that S.P.E.W. disappeared in a puff of logic.

Later that day after lunch the gryffindors and the slytherins set off to DDA. They were all anxious to meet their new teacher. They walked through the door and found seats and awaited the appearance of their teacher. He walked in through a back room and sat at his desk with a cool relaxed smile.

"Hello class, I'm professor Fictin."

Mark Fictin had dark brown hair that sometimes fell infront of his face. He had bright blue eyes and a strong face structure. He looked in his mid-twenties, and he was very handsome.

"This year we'll cover a large amount of things. But," he stood up, "right now you will learn how to stun your opponent. This technique is often used on giants so a person can run."

He moved about with an unusual grace. He scanned his students. "Who would like to volunteer?" Several hands went up and Mark picked out Ron. "We are currently out of giants, so, young Ron here will be our giant." Ron found himself being ushered onto a very tall small platform. Professor Fictin turned to his class. "Will this do you think?" The class eagerly supplied a rounding 'yes'.

Mark turned back to Ron, "Now Ron, I want you to be a fierce giant."

"…eh?…"

Professor Fictin shook his head, "Not nearly convincing enough. Come on be fierce! Growl or something!" Poor Ron was totally lost. Professor Fictin sighed.

"Ron, I'm afraid you will never be a giant."

He turned back to the class. "Who can be a convincing giant?"

Lee was picked and he replaced Ron on the platform. He put on a good act. Professor Fictin nodded. "Now, the spell you want to use is fidelio. Say it.

The class repeated the word. And suddenly Professor Fictin leaped forward and grabbed a gryffindor by the shirt. "IT'S A GIANT! QUICK! DEFEND YOURSELF!"

He pushed the boy towards Lee who let out a roar. Totally baffled the gryffindor looked around unsure and completely confused. After several seconds Professor Fictin stepped to him.

"No, I'm sorry but at this point you are quite dead. Please go over there and be dead." The gryffindor walked over to a side of the room the Fictin had indicated and turned back.

"Good," Fictin said, "now lie on the ground like a dead person and please stay there until you have been revived.

One by one the class faced Lee, who was a very good giant, and about half of them ended up dead, either they missed, hesitated, or was too busy laughing to say the spell. When the spell actually hit it stunned Lee who would stay very still for about three minutes, then would wake up from his trance with a huge smile on his face. Among the living were Harry, Hermione, and Draco. Ron had been cracking up, couldn't form any words, and was therefore dead.

After everyone had gone Professor Fictin informed the dead they were revived. By the end of the class everyone had stunned Lee at least once, and Lee had a chance to stun a slytherin, which made him very happy.

The class ended and everyone dispersed, most were chattering happily about the class they just had. The trio made their way to the bottom of the grand staircase. In the hallway just outside they saw Sam looking down at something. She had a piece of paper ontop of an open book and was half reading half writing. She was still able to walk around people without looking at them, and she easily maneuvered her way down the hallway. Walking in the opposite direction was Professor Fictin, he was looking at something as well, and in the middle of the hallway they collided. They fell to the ground and when they gathered their senses they looked up and locked eyes.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. As if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"Sam." Said Mark.

"Mark." Replied Sam.

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Hope you like it… and hope you like Mark. Y'all still need to tell me if I should or shouldn't put some RonxHermione in the story…


	9. Authors note

Authors note

I might discontinue this story. I'll have all the chapters incase I ever want to put it back up. But the plots been done, it's not an original story, and I don't know. I'll prob. write another fanfiction about something else, but I was looking at other fanfictions and I realized just how unoriginal this story is. So I might discontinue. Sorry, I don't know if I will yet, but I probably will.

Sorry y'all. (Btw I don't know if you were wondering but you might know two people use this account, this story was Izzy's (Isabelle's) and A New Journey is Julie's.)


	10. Author's note

Author's note

Ok, y-do-you-care-stalker? has freaked me out so I'm going to continue this story… next chapter should be up soon.


	11. Old Friends and New Lessons

Old friends and new lessons

The two just stood there for a while, staring at each other. Finally Sam broke the silence.

"So you are here. I didn't know if it was you."

"Likewise, I heard rumors, I didn't know if they were true and if it'd be you."

Ron put in his thoughts, "You know each other?"

It was kind of a stupid question.

"We go way back."

"How?"

"Well," began Sam, "we know each other from here and there."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No," said Mark flatly.

"Then lost touch."

"To be sure."

They viewed each other for a while. Still in a state of disbelief.

"So where have you been hiding all these years?"

"Here and there," said Mark, "You?"

"Manhattan."

"Ah."

This form of conversation went on for a while. Eventually Dumbledore entered without warning, the way he often does.

"Sam and Mark, I see you remember each other."

"Kinda hard to forget."

"Sam, I was hoping you could help Mark with his class. This year there will be basic defense against a Serris."

"I'd only be too happy."

Later that evening Sam and Harry broke away from the rest of the group so that she could help him with what Snape had attempted to teach him the previous year. Keeping people out of his mind. They entered the DDA classroom and stood about ten feet away from each other.

"Ready Harry?"

He nodded, not sure if he was.

"Ok, so I'll start out easy, then get harder as you develop. You know how to do this right?"

"Yeah."

"Ok then."

Then they fell into silence, Harry felt a slight buzzing in his head, he quickly pushed against it, and it fell silent. Sam nodded, then the buzzing came back, slightly harder, and Harry pushed against it. This continued for sometime until they reached his limit. He pushed against her, but she didn't move, they stood no sign of effort appeared on her body, though Harry began to look weary, after a few minutes, he let down his guard and Sam flew into his brain. She retracted immediately. Harry looked up at her confused.

"You're tired, you need to rest."

He nodded and sat down on a desk. She looked at him as he regained his strength.

"So who was it? The person that controlled your mind."

He jumped at the directness of the statement, but she was correct. Last year Lord Voldemort was able to take over his body.

Sam nodded and looked away, after a few minutes she told him that he was ready to try again. They retook their positions and repeated the exercise with Sam using the same level of difficulty, eventually Harry was able to block her out, but he was dead tired. Sam looked at him.

"You're done for tonight, you can go back to your dormitory."

"I'm not looking forward to the walk."

Sam smiled nodded, suddenly he found himself in his dormitory. He looked around but Sam wasn't there. He fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

He woke up early at four in the morning, and found he wasn't tired at all. He got up and got dressed. In the common room he found Sam sitting watching the fire. The fire reflected in her eyes, and lit her face. She was strumming lightly on a guitar. He could make out soft notes to a song she didn't know she was playing, something long forgotten.

"That's very good."

Sam jumped, she had been so absorbed in thought she hadn't noticed his presence. She turned and looked at him, then at the window to see what time it was. It was still dark out.

"I'm sorry Harry, did I wake you up?"

"No, actually. I didn't hear you till I came down."

"I didn't realize I was playing, it's just second nature now."

She turned back to the fire and continued to strum and pick out a few notes, she started to hum along and as before her voice had an enchanting effect. It was almost hypnotizing. Then she grabbed the strings and held them down stopping the sound. Her eyes narrowed and she looked around. Harry was about to ask her what she was doing when he heard a voice inside his head say,

_Don't make a sound!_

_Sam?_

_No, Santa Clause._

No matter the situation Sam always managed to be sarcastic.

She looked around then closed her eyes and focused, there was a slight breeze. All of a sudden her eyes flew open and she ran toward the open window and jumped out. Harry ran after her to see what was happening. Her saw her in mid-fall and suddenly she took the form of an eagle and dove out of sight. There was only one thought in Harry's mind at the moment.

_What the hell just happened?_

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Yeah, it's short but tis very important.

Summer started I'm out of school (WOOOOOOOOT!) so I should be updating more often, emphasis on should.


	12. Secrets

Secrets

Some called it torture, some called it hell, and some called it unbearable. No matter what anyone called it, it was history class. And for the past fifteen minutes the class had to endure droning lectures about… well nobody actually knew what, it was too boring to listen to. If anybody had actually died of boredom, it had happened in this class. In his mind Harry replayed last nights events over in his head. First off, Sam had jumped out of a window. Weird enough. Then she had turned into a bird… also strange, but what he really couldn't figure out was why the hell she had done it. It seemed as though she was after something. Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a loud snoring sound from behind him.

"Wake up Ron."

Ron woke up. Strange really, but then Harry realized Hermione had pinched him. Hard.

"OW!" he screamed.

The teacher didn't even notice. If a teacher doesn't notice a student scream out in pain, something is very wrong.

Finally the class let out. The trio decided to go down to Hagrids hut, on the way Harry told them what had happened. Even Hermione was totally baffled, an accomplishment to be sure. All Hermione had to offer was that all Serris's could turn into two animals; apparently one of hers was an eagle. When they reached Hagrids hut they found him in the pumpkin patch, feeding crookshanks. They didn't know how crookshanks had gotten down there but the cat seemed to do some strange things.

"Hagrid!"

"Oh, 'ey there 'arry, Hermione, Ron."

They talked for a while. They went inside the hut for tea. Hermione was pouring some for herself when she dropped the cup and screamed. The boys jumped up,

"Hermione what happened?"

She pointed to the floor behind the table. Sam had appeared there, she was on the floor, arms in a position that made it look like she was doing push ups. She was breathing very hard and had a long bloody gash on her back. Harry and Hagrid ran and fell at her side.

"Hagrid…" she breathed, "tell him… I know where…" She noticed Harry at her side and fell silent."

"Sam do you need anything?"

"No, just… hold on."

Her back glowed a faint blue color. The gash started to shrink and eventually disappeared. The shirt she was wearing mended itself and Sam sat up. Everyone was staring at her.

"Uh…Hi?"

"What…"

Sam sighed. She looked at them with a strange look in her eyes. It might have been sorrow or something else entirely.

"I'm sorry, but I can't say anything. I'm not allowed."

Later that night Harry sat wondering what on earth had happened. Sam had refused to tell them, they had asked her many times, but she refused to say anything. Ron was working on Snape's assignment, which he had waited toward the last moment to complete. Procrastination simply didn't work well for him. Hermione was lecturing Ron on responsibility, Harry was watching but he wasn't really paying attention. He couldn't get the picture of Sam lying on the ground with her back split open out of his head. Hermione was the first to bring up the time. It was very late. Harry went up to his bed, and although he was sure he would get no sleep, he was more tired than he thought.

Sam sat on a dock. She was playing a song on her guitar and singing, though Harry couldn't hear the words. The moonlight reflected on the water and the ripples splashed against the dock. As he watched the water turned red, it was turning into blood. Sam stood up and dropped her guitar. She went up in flames to protect herself, but the blood hit her and it went out. She was thrown into the blood, and there was a piercing scream. Harry ran onto the dock and jumped in after her. He was running out of breath when he finally found her. As soon as he touched her, he could breath, Sam opened her eyes wide and looked at him. Then everything went into flames.

Harry woke in a cold sweat. He was breathing hard and shaking. He went downstairs to see if Sam was down there as she had been lately. He ran and saw her sitting against the couch asleep. Strange, she wasn't on the couch, but was simply leaning against it. He watched her breath, as if assurance she was alive. Eventually the sun rose, as did Sam.

"Answer me one thing," said Hermione at breakfast.

"What?' responded Sam.

"If an eagle is one of your animal forms, what's the other?"

"Black panther."

Hermione was confused, "Why a panther?"

"Why not?"

"Well, it doesn't have anything to do with fire."

"Uh…"Sam didn't get the point.

"Well, just an eagle is an air animal."

"The animals don't have much to do with elements, panther has something to do with shadows. I don't really know…" Sam drifted off. She looked at Draco Malfoy, "I swear that guy looks familiar."

Harry was about to say something, but was interrupted by a loud bang. Neville had tried to perform a spell, and it hadn't worked. There was a long silence, and then, simultaneously, everyone started laughing. Neville's hair had turned green. It wasn't a becoming color for him.

While exiting the hallway, they ran into Draco. Hermione bumped into him by accident.

"Watch where you're going you filthy little mudblood."

Hermione drew her wand.

"Shut up you pompous asshole!"

Draco smirked. "You don't have the guts."

"I have the guts, you're just not worth it."

Draco started imitating chicken sounds. If Hermione was getting agitated then Sam was thoroughly pissed off. Draco was pushed by an invisible force and was thrown down the hall, he hit the floor and slid into the wall.

"YOU ARE POSSIBLE THE MOST ARROGANT STUCK UP PERSON WHO HAS EVER LIVED!" Sam had a muggle grandmother and hearing anybody be called a mudblood then being pestered because they chose to do nothing about it really ticked her off. Sam kneeled beside where Draco was lying and added softly, "Look Malfoy, stop being a jackass or I will make your life a living hell." She got up and walked off. Not listening to the claps of people from other houses.

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Ok, I'm kinda having writers block so this chapter was kinda boring, sorry. The next one will be better.


	13. Hate is hate, especially when it's mutua

Hate is hate, especially when it's mutual

The music beat was quick, as the feet of the dancers. They were amazing. Sam's dance group was practicing off by the quiddich field (instead of the four that Harry saw before the whole group was there, a total of six), there was a large group of people watching them. They were dancing to a song called _papercut_ by Linkin Park, a muggle song, but muggle's seem to have better music.

_Why's it feel like night today?_

_Something in here's not right today._

_Why am I so uptight today?_

_Paranoia is all I got left._

_I don't know what stressed me first._

_Or how the pressure was feed._

The song had a depressing kind of mood to it, but it was very very quick and the dancers moved rapidly, Hermione wondered how they managed to remember the moves.

_But I know just what it feels like to have a voice in the back of my head._

Harry could relate to this song, for all of his time, he had worked up a serious paranoia and it seemed like there was no escaping it.

_Like a face that I hold inside,_

_A face that wakes when I close my eyes._

_Face that watches everytime I lie._

_A face that laughs every time I fall._

After a few minutes the song ended. The dance group waited till the crowd dispersed, they were practicing they didn't actually want a crowd watching them. Harry was deep in thought, he was wondering where Voldemort was, what he was doing, when he would try to kill him. He took some time to figure out that Sam was watching him. When he looked at her she winked, then turned to her dance group. The three girls in the group walked over to Harry. Sam introduced them.

"Harry, this is Jasmine," she said indicating a very pretty African American girl, "and this," she then indicated to a girl who's black hair was very thin and stick straight, she had dark eyes, and very pale skin, "is Alex.

"Hey," said Alex.

"Hi," responded Harry.

"Nice to meet you England." Said Jasmine.

"What?"

"She had a tendency to call people by their, country or town or something like that. Since you're the first person she's met here, you are England." Said Alex.

"Oh… are you really going to call me that?"

"Yes." Said Alex and Jasmine at the same time.

Harry looked over at Sam.

"Yes they are. Like Jasmine calls her boyfriend Brooklyn. Jasmine reacted to this very quickly.

"I don't have a boyfriend."

Sam gave her a sideways look. "Yes you do."

Alex appeared at Sam's side. "You most certainly do. You're smitten." Alex put the back of her hand up on her head, sighed and stared to fall backwards. As if she were fainting. Sam caught her and started fanning her.

Jasmine pushed them over. "You're so immature."

"Most definitely." Agreed Sam, "that's why you love us."

The three boys from the group wandered over. The tallest had sandy hair and blue eyes. He smirked, "What'd you do this time?"

Alex looked confused. "What do you mean?" She looked over at Sam who had the same look.

"Yeah," agreed Sam, "why are you implying that we did something?"

The boy with brown hair who was smaller than the others but very well built pointed out that they almost always did something.

"True." Said Sam, "we were simply commenting on how Jasmine calls people by the name of where they're from."

"Oh," said the third boy who was African American and pretty tall, "like how she calls her boyfriend Brooklyn."

"THANK YOU!" exclaimed Alex.

Jasmine exhaled, obviously trying to keep herself calm. "Come on," she said, "we have to practice other dances." They all got up and talked for a second agreed on a song and got into positions. Harry wasn't watching them, he didn't do anything, he simply leaned against a tree and just was for a while. He wasn't a doomed hero, or an orphan, he was just another person. He felt this way because of how Sam and her group treated him. Like he was just another person. It would make sense. Hanging around with a serris must make someone pretty used to being with someone like that.

After a while, their practice ended and Harry went for transfiguration. After the class, he saw Sam talking to herself,

"No, I can't do that." She paused and seemed to be listening. "No, I don't care… why do you think you're so much better than me?" She closed her eyes and said, "I don't care about that, I'm just as good and just a suited, everything's fine. Fine. We'll talk about this later."

For several seconds Harry considered that fact that Sam might be schizophrenic, but then remembered how on the train to Hogwarts she had done the same thing, and also she had talked in his head. Sam began pacing and muttering. She raised her and to her forehead and through the corner of her eye she saw Harry standing there. She started, and without turning asked,

"Harry how long have you been there?"

He immediately became suspicious. "Why?"

Sam noticed his tone and turned towards him, "What? I just want to know…"

"WHAT? Are you talking about me? Why should it matter?"

"Why are you so suspicious of me?"

Harry stopped. He didn't know… he muttered an apology and walked away from her.

He got a few steps away then realized that he had left a text book in his class. He doubled back just in time to see Sam bump into Snape.

"Watch where you're going serris." He sneered.

"Like wise you deatheater reject."

Neither was aware that Harry was in hearing distance.

"You should respect the teachers in this school."

"I'm not a student, and I respect the teachers, except you. I don't see why I should respect you, you don't deserve it."

"If Dumbledore respects me so should you."

Sam pretended to consider it. "No," she decided, "I don't think I will."

She started walking away.

"Stupid arrogant mudblood."

Sam stopped, and turned. Harry could feel her power radiating and was extremely glad it was not directed at him. Snape looked a little nervous.

"You forget Severus that though I might be younger and smaller than you I am more powerful and more important than you will ever be."

She disappeared and Snape opened his mouth to mutter something and Harry saw the realization in his eyes, Sam had taken away his ability to talk.

Harry smiled. _This_ was something he could be happy about.


	14. Deception

Deception

"Now really, Severus, how do you expect me to know what's wrong if you won't say anything?" Dumbledore defiantly knew what was wrong, but he was getting extreme amusement out of the situation.

Harry watched them. He didn't have to move from where he had heard Sam and Snape fighting, to hear this one sided conversation. Dumbledore had come down the hallway right after Sam left.

"Oh, I see, Sam took your voice… yes well, that's a bit of a problem isn't it now… well I wonder where she went of to. You see only she can give you you're voice back. I know that might be a bit of a problem seeing as you hate each other… yes that is quite unfortunate indeed."

Harry had to stop himself from bursting into fits of laughter. Sam had outdone herself without intending to. Dumbledore took out his wand and recited a couplet. Sam appeared in the hallway in a burst of flame. She raised her eyebrow inviting an explanation. Dumbledore took the invitation.

"Severus tells me… or depicts to me rather, that you have stolen his voice. He needs to teach his class, and it would be good to have a voice in order to do that."

Sam sighed, "Fine, if it has to be done."

Snape opened his mouth and emitted a sound, then looked satisfied. Sam gave him a dirty look and turned to Dumbledore, "I need to find Mark. Do you know where he is?"

"I believe he's gone to walk out in the garden."

Sam thanked him and walked off. Dumbledore walked off in the other direction, Sanpe walked to the dungeons, and Harry blinked several times. Then walked off to the transfiguration classroom.

The term passed without any more strange happenings, or rather, as few strange happenings as can happen in a wizarding school. Harry had his breakouts of paranoia, Sam disappeared and practiced dancing, Hermione studied, and Ron… did Ron things. Mark and Sam decided that the students should have some basic defense against a serris, so they began classes.

The students filed into the class and sat down in their usual seats. Mark got up and addressed the class.

"If you ever find yourself in a one on one battle with a serris, run." Stange advice, but nobody said anything. "I have acquired Sam's assistance in basic defense against a serris, but try at all costs to avoid a battle with one. We'll start with stopping a serris from messing with your mind." Mark gave them their instructions and picked out Ron to go first. Just his luck.

He went up and faced Sam. She smiled and winked, "ready?"

"No."

"Well, try. Ready. Go."

It took Sam about .75 of a second to play mind games with him. Ron stumbled and fell. Sam walked over and helped him up. Mark smiled, "Sam give them a bloody chance."

Sam looked at Ron. "There is something you want to hide. I don't know what it is, but everybody hides something. You need to focus all your energy on keeping me out of your mind, I don't belong there, keep me away from you."

They tried again, and it took Sam five seconds to break into his mind. Not long but after several other students it turned out he was one of the best. Then it was Harry's turn. Harry had already had lots of practice with keeping Sam out of his mind, so they were there for about three minutes, before Sam pushed harder and broke in. The period passed and everyone walked away with a slight headache. As Draco left Sam and Harry heard him mutter something about going easy on Potter.

"Malfoy." Sam called out, she didn't seem mad but he still flinched at the sound of her voice. "Come here."

He walked over to her, she smiled. "Why would you think I would easy on Potter?"

"He lasted so much longer than everyone else."

She nodded, "He's my friend. I wouldn't cheat him like that."

"What?"

Sam grabbed him by the neck and backed him against the wall. The room got dimmer and the candles flickered. Malfoy could have sworn her eyes started turning black.

"If you're by yourself, against a serris, good or bad, there is nothing to help you unless you had training, there is no point in trying to train someone if you're not trying to make them better."

She dropped her hand, the light in the room came back, Malfoy stared at her. She looked in her eyes, their eyes locked and after about a second Sam's widened.

"You." She said in shock.

Malfoy looked at her, at a loss for words, he searched her face trying to figure out what had just happened. Then he had the same reaction. They stared at each other, both unbelieving. Then Sam broke the look and shook her head.

"How did I not recognize you?"

"It was a long time ago."

Sam nodded. Malfoy looked at her with pleading eyes, "Don't…"

Sam looked at him with complete seriousness "I won't." She looked away and without saying another word they left the classroom, Malfoy walked out, Sam went over to Mark, said something in hushed tones, and looked at Harry, then disappeared. Harry was left with a look of extreme confusion on his face. Mark breathed heavily and went into his office.

Later in the common room Harry, Hermione, and Ron tried to figure out what was going on.

"First Sam's here, so something bad must be happening, there have been other precautions taken but this is really extreme." Said Harry.

"Then she has some kind of background with Mark." Said Ron.

"And she appeared in Hagrid's hut with that huge gash on her back." Hermione remembered with a shudder.

"And now she has some weird thing going on with Malfoy." Concluded Harry.

"Well she's not lying to us." Pointed out Ron

"Maybe she's deceiving us." Suggested Hermione.

"What do you mean by deception?" Asked Harry.

"Yes," Sam said from a corner of the room. It was dark except the light from the fire dimly outlined her face and made out her features, "What do you mean deception?" They all looked at her suddenly ashamed of what they had been talking about. "Or rather, what kind of deception. Deception is the ability to smile when you think you're about to die, and to fake sleep when nightmares plague your mind. But it's also betrayal, and if you think I'm betraying you, you're sadly mistaken." She said distantly, and there was no hint of disdain, or anger, just pain. Not of this, but the kind of pain that would kill you, and give you nightmares. Sam was deceiving everyone, but it was simply putting on an act of courage and stability.


End file.
